With the rapid increase in the technological level and the complexity of semiconductor design, interest in Design For Manufacturability (DFM) is increasing. In particular, in order to realize yield enhancement, the development of a recommended rule for DFM methods is underway. The recommended rule has a value which is backed off a minimum design rule by a predetermined amount.
In detail, the design of the layout of a semiconductor integrated circuit device is dependent on a minimum design rule value (or ground rule value). The minimum design rule value represents the limitation of resolution in current photo-processing, and, in particular, refers to a minimum space interval, a minimum overlap area or the like between various masks or within a mask used in the semiconductor integrated circuit device. However, when current processing technology does not satisfy the minimum design rule value, the yield can be rapidly enhanced using a recommended rule value which is slightly higher than the minimum design rule value in the layout design of a semiconductor integrated circuit device.